Species sheet · The Edible Ocean
European plaice
The estuary flatfish with its little twisted mouth.
- Meunière or amandine
- Poached in fish stock
- Rolled fillets baked in the oven
- In French
- Carrelet
- Scientific name
- Pleuronectes platessa
- In the water
- A flatfish of sandy or muddy seabeds in the north-east Atlantic, English Channel and North Sea, from 0 to 200 m, often 10 to 50 m.
- Season & buying
- Available year-round; the finest specimens often arrive in late winter and spring.
- Common length
- ~40 cm
- How to identify it
- Oval smooth body with small scales
Bony ridge behind the eyes
Small, slightly twisted mouth
On the plate
Fine, delicate and faintly sweet flesh, tender when cooked.
Avoid: Cooking it too long: the flesh becomes dry and loses its melt-in-the-mouth quality.
Plaice is the most caught flatfish in northern Europe; it is recognisable by the bony ridge behind its eyes.
In Umay recipes
2 Umay recipes call for it.
